This invention relates to percussion, specifically mallet percussion, and most specifically, four-mallet percussion. The invention aims to create a whole new, revolutionary way to play four-mallet percussion.
Mallet Percussion generally includes marimbas, xylophones and vibraphones, aka keyboard instruments. These instruments are made up of bars of various materials including Honduran Rosewood, Paduk wood, synthetic, often fiberglass- and/or polymer-based materials, etc. produce pitched sounds when struck with a mallet. These instruments come in various different sizes: this is due to many keyboard instruments having graduated bars where the lower range of bars are both wider and longer than higher-pitched ones. Also, some instruments have more octaves of bars and/or have wider bars than others.
When first learning how to play this type of instruments, percussionists wield only one mallet per hand. Songs are not meant to be overly complicated with blocks of chords or otherwise. If more pitches are needed at the same time, multiple percussionists can play at the same time. However, this is not ideal when a group has only one percussionist or one keyboard instrument, as both can be quite expensive.
As a solution, various techniques for wielding a total of four mallets (two in each hand) have been proposed and adopted by members of the percussion society. Popular methods include the Stevens Grip and Burton Grip. Stevens Grip is mostly popular with marimbists whilst Burton is more popular amongst vibraphonists.
The following paragraphs refer to certain videos and articles. The video series, “Gary Burton Vibraphone Masterclass,” from Vic Firth.com will be herein referred to as (Burton). The video series, “Video Lesson Series with Giff Howarth,” from Vic Firth.com will herein be referred to as (Howarth). The video series, “Ney Rosauro: Extended Grip Lesson Series,” also from Vic Firth.com is also referred to in the following paragraphs. Comments made by percussion instructor Daniel Vega are referred to as (Vega).
In Stevens Grip, one mallet is held with the pinky and ring fingers quite near the end of the mallet. The other mallet's end pivots between the palm near the flesh part near the thumb and the middle finger in what Giff Howarth considers the “Spiderman webbing” motion (Howarth). This mallet's fulcrum is formed by the thumb and ring finger. The hand should be in a “hand shake” position (Howarth). Like with all percussion techniques, muscles should always remain relaxed while playing to prevent lock-ups of muscles, injuries, etc. However, this fact is quite perplexing and paradoxical in Stevens grip because of the obscure muscles required to use the grip. A “piston stroke” is formed by rotating the wrist to strike individual mallets and a “down-up” stroke should be used to play with both mallets in hand in unison (Howarth). Although this grip allows great flexibility in terms of the ability to reach wide intervals (spaces between keys Ex. C to the E above an octave is a 3rd 8 va) and the freedom to use the individual mallets, Stevens grip is not very good for playing loudly and conjuring up enough force to do so. This is because the muscles employed in Stevens Grip are not very naturally used and must be constantly worked at with various exercises to maintain proper technique and avoid short-term injuries. However, many years of playing with Stevens Grip has shown that it can lead to arthritis or tendonitis because of the stress on those muscles as it did with professional Ney Rosauro (Rosauro). Damage can be even worse for people who play this grip incorrectly, especially those just starting off with their four-mallet career (Howarth).
Stevens Grip, because of its use of peculiar muscle groups, is also very difficult for new learners to pick up and learn right away. It requires tons of practice and patience and there is still no guarantee that all percussionists will be able to correctly play with this technique.
On the other end of the spectrum, however, Burton Grip is supposed to be much easier to learn and feel much more natural. Burton Grip, being designed for the Vibraphone by vibraphonist Gary Burton, is much sturdier on account for needing much more force to hit metal bars, often loudly. The mallets are held in the hand, “palms down to the floor”, and form a crisscross of sorts (Burton). This grip style still presents its own problems however. For one, intervals cannot be made nearly as wide as Stevens, the individual mallets have much less freedom and control, and roll also cannot be made agreeably, something that Stevens does arguably very well. Also, with Burton Grip comes a clicking noise when the mallets hit the instruments. This occurs because the two mallets hit each other at the point where they cross in the hand. At first, this may seem like a minor annoyance, however clicking noises give the appearance that the percussionist does not maintain his or her equipment well and can deter from the musicians' actual ability when performing.
These reasons are why the aforementioned Ney Rosauro was compelled to create his own grip, the extended-cross grip that attempts to alleviate all the problems by combining elements of both and also attempts to keep the whole thing natural. His grip is a kind of adaptation to Burton because it also follows the pattern of crossing the mallet shafts in the hand. However, it also borrows from Stevens and regular two-mallet playing where one mallet is held using the thumb and index finger as fulcrum while the ring finger holds it to the palm. The pinky finger acts as a buffer to prevent clicking. Rosauro's Extended Cross Grip allows a range of play approximately as wide as Stevens, good stability, individual mallet freedom, and it feels arguably the “most natural” (Vega) of all the grips so it is easy for students to pick up and learn right away. However, like all other four-mallet grips, it is still awkward to stick two mallets in each hand. One significant detail that is clearly evident with the relatively recent development of Rosauro's grip is that the four-mallet and multi-mallet industry or style of play is still very much in its infancy and is still awaiting the best solution.